P&G's Alex Malouf joins the Echo Chamber to discuss the talent crisis in the Middle East PR industry, focusing in particular on the challenges posed by localisation and education. Malouf joined the podcast ahead of the Innovation Summit in Dubai last week. Meanwhile at our In2Summit in New York one week earlier, Arun Sudhaman sat down with Angie Schneider to discuss her new startup Spry, and how it aims to revolutionise PR using technology.

Omnicom PR Group CEO Karen van Bergen makes her long-awaited Echo Chamber debut, discussing the performance of her PR agencies, challenging market conditions and her plans for 2018. Van Bergen also explores Omnicom's recent funding of startup Spry, and discusses exactly what she looks for from her agency CEOs.

Citizen Relations global CEO Jim Joseph checks into the Echo Chamber to conduct his annual roundup of Super Bowl advertising, finding out that — this year at least — humour appeared to trump politics. Elsewhere, Arun Sudhaman talks to Taylor Bennett Heyman's Sarah Crawshaw about a new research study that charts the evolution of the in-house communications role at Asian MNCs.

Live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Arun Sudhaman meets with Mercer CMO Jeanniey Mullen, who discusses how employee expectations are changing the way that CEOs engage on issues, some of which are political. Sudhaman also talks to KPMG citizenship head Lord Michael Hastings about how the nature of corporate purpose is changing.

Omnicom PR Group's international president David Gallagher visits the Echo Chamber in Hong Kong to discuss the slowdown in publicly-held PR growth, and why agency models must be held accountable. Gallagher also runs through his 2018 trends to watch, including the impact of blockchain and artificial intelligence, and also explores whether next week's World Economic Forum in Davos remains relevant.

Paul Holmes joins the Echo Chamber podcast to discuss his annual review of agency M&A in the PR sector, which year revealed a significant decline in both the volume and value of industry dealmaking. Holmes and Arun Sudhaman explore the rise of the 'micro-transaction', with smaller firms dominating sales while holding groups such as Omnicom and WPP did not acquire a single PR firm in 2017. The duo also wonder whether the Holmes Report might qualify for President Trump's 'MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR', and explore the PR fallout from Michael Wolff's explosive new White House expose.

Jana Lynne Sanchez, founder of European PR firm CitySavvy, joins the Echo Chamber to discuss her decision to run for Congress. Currently the Democratic ballot frontrunner for Texas' 6th district, Sanchez explores the factors that triggered her decision to seek office, against a backdrop of political tumult and a groundswell of women who are choosing to run. She also analyses the communications lessons from her career that are underpinning her campaign, which may yet cause the dominant Republican Party a surprise in 2018.

Angela Oakes, co-founder and co-president of Global Women in PR, joins the Echo Chamber to talk about her organization's research on the global pay gap for women in PR. In a conversation with Aarti Shah, the two talk about GWPR's findings, in addition to the Holmes Report's research that shows that a substantial pay gap for both women and people of color in the PR industry.

It's Episode 100 of the Echo Chamber! Or is it? Either way, Alex Malouf of IABC and P&G joins the show to discuss the key themes that have emerged from the podcast's 4+ years of existence, including agency integration, ethics and PR convergence with marketing. In conversation with Arun Sudhaman, the duo also offer up some random PR predictions for the Echo Chamber in 2018, looking at such areas as PR creativity, agency infractions and holding company growth.